Four TV Shows Troy, Abed and Annie Tried To Watch, One They Liked
by Anita
Summary: Abed's attempt to foster room-mate bonding via TV shows doesn't work as well as he would have hoped. Is there anything he, Troy and Annie can all agree on?


Four TV Shows Troy, Abed and Annie Tried To Watch Together, And One They All Liked

_The Cape_

It seemed natural that part of the bonding process between friends – namely roommates – would involve partaking in shared interests. At least, this was what Abed had gleaned from ten seasons of _Friends_.

Abed had a variety of interests, but they all came in the form of DVD box sets. Troy and Annie enjoyed watching TV shows, but not with the same intensity he did. He would have to select the best series to optimize the development of their friendship.

"So this is _The Cape_, buddy?" Troy asked.

Annie studied the DVD box. "What's it about?"

"It's about a detective who gets framed for the murder of a police chief. He is believed to be dead and then goes undercover with a troupe of circus bank robbers. He fights crime using circuscraft and a really cool cape, hoping to eventually clear his name. " Abed explained matter-of-factly. Annie and Troy blinked back at him, wordlessly.

"I suspect that a regular television viewing experience between three roommates will facilitate a greater degree of intimacy in our daily lives."

"Um, Abed? Isn't there anything else we could watch?" Annie suggested in her gentlest tone.

Troy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, didn't this already get canceled? I already let _Firefly_ break my heart once; I'm not ready to love again!"

Abed kept a calm composure. It seemed his first attempt had failed. They never even got past the DVD menu.

* * *

_Mad Men_

Annie had some strange fascination with Don Draper. Abed never understood it. As far as he was concerned, Don Draper treated all the women in his life like trash and considering his constant smoking would probably die of lung cancer at a premature age.

Then again, from what he knew of Annie, she did seem to have an affinity for domineering men with faulty moral compasses.

[_"You like me because I'm immature. There's not enough immaturity in your life..."_]

But his last attempt to foster unity had failed. Abed assumed Annie would be the hardest to please and therefore it was in their best interest if they let her decide what show they should watch next.

"_Mad Men_ again?" Troy complained. "I hate this show. These pick-up lines totally don't work when you're a short black kid not wearing a suit."

Annie rolled her eyes. "No girl in their right mind would fall for a line like that nowadays. Unless it was said by Jon Hamm." Abed was certain Annie actually had stars in her eyes as she gushed.

"Exactly. Watching him makes me feel so inadequate. Plus, it's like a history lesson. I don't want to learn things when I'm watching TV, I want to drive all the useful information out of my brain!" Troy continued.

Annie turned to Abed. "What do you think?"

"If they had built the show on the premise that Don Draper was an unusually charismatic extraterrestrial sent to Earth to study courtship techniques of the 50s, maybe it would be more believable."

Annie pouted. "I need more girlfriends."

Abed was caught off guard when Troy chuckled in reply and Annie slapped his arm in disgust.

Sometimes he felt like the undercover extraterrestrial.

"That Trudy chick is hot, though." Troy commented. Abed nodded stiffly in agreement.

Abed sank further into confusion as Annie shot them both a scandalized look.

* * *

_Glee_

They tried _Glee_ for maybe three nights. Even that was more than enough.

None of them saw the appeal.

"That choir teacher is super creepy." Annie disapproved.

"Are they really meant to be high school students? Younger than us?" Abed asked. "They should hire a more accurate casting director."

"Oh great, another musical number." Troy crossed his arms indignantly. "At least pick some good songs. Like 'Somewhere Out There'!"

"Or 'Roxanne'"

"Or 'Getting Rid of Britta'".

"Or 'Daybreak'."

Abed, Annie and Troy started humming enthusiastically.

* * *

_Reading Rainbow_

The blissful reverie Troy was in as he sang along with the _Reading Rainbow_ opening was in curious contrast to the disconcerted expression on Annie's face as the music played on.

"Take a look, in a book, reading rainboooow!" Troy ended with flourish.

Abed loved Troy, they were best friends beyond compare. Troy was the yin to his yang, the Robin to his Batman, the Ernie to his Bert, the Buzz Lightyear to his Woody. But this show would just not do. Not at all.

"What is the premise of this show, Troy?" Abed asked.

"What? There's no plot or anything, Abed, it's just…amazing. Fun!"

"It's a kids' show." Annie clarified.

"It's a classic!" Troy argued.

Annie placed a gentle hand on Troy's arm. "We all know how to read, we don't need a program to do it for us. Plus, these books are all over ten years old now…"

Troy crossed his arms and pouted childishly. "So you guys don't want to watch it."

Abed had wanted this experience to create a stronger friendship, not tear them apart. He was beginning to wonder if his initiative had in fact been a mistake.

"We'll keep looking for something all three of us can enjoy." Annie replied optimistically to Troy, shooting Abed a reassuring look.

* * *

_Inspector Spacetime_

It took a lot of time, some perseverance and several DVD rentals, but in the end Abed, Troy and Annie found a show. **Their **show.

Abed noted that there were certain subtleties about _Inspector Spacetime_ that went over Annie's head. In all honesty, there were some that went over Troy's as well.

But there was something oddly comforting about the three of them squished onto one love seat every Saturday afternoon, cheering on their favourite characters.

"Oh no, watch out Constable Reggie!" Troy exclaimed.

"Don't worry, the Inspector will save him!" Abed said confidently.

"Not if the Blorgons get to him first!" Annie lamented, her eyes focused squarely on the screen.

Abed contemplated pointing out the innate fallacies in both of their arguments – the Inspector always found Reggie and the good guys always won – but decided against it. With Annie's hand squeezing his own emphatically and Troy's left knee pressed reassuringly into his right thigh he felt like he…belonged.

Annie momentarily set aside the heated comments and invested emotions. "Well, at least we finally found something all three of us can watch."

"You think it'll last this time?" Troy asked in good humour.

There was a first time for everything, wasn't there?


End file.
